Star Wars: Phantom Squad 1 -CANCELLED-
by Bandanacat
Summary: See the rise of a band of alien rebels that stands agianst the evil Galactic Empire! Grelon Stah is a young rebel with a hidden connection to the Force, when a mission to join a rebel cell with valuble resources with the Rebel Alliance goes wrong, the crew of the doomed mission fight to complete their mission against Imperial forces. CANCELLED USERNAME CHANGED TO Bandanacat


Hello there! This is my first Fanfic, I've had ideas about Star Wars stories but they've pretty much been shelved, if this story picks up I'll continue this story (though I might try to keep going no matter how much recognition this gets). So please read and enjoy!

STAR WARS: PHANTOM SQUAD 1:

A LONG TIME AGO IN A GALAXY FAR, FAR AWAY…

It is a time of great fear, by the new self-appointed leader of the GALACTIC EMPIRE, EMPEROR PALPATINE'S decree of ORDER 66, the JEDI have been branded traitors, and hunted down mercilessly.

To lure them out of hiding, IMPERIAL AGENTS have been dispatched throughout the GALAXY to kill or detain the families and allies of the JEDI.

One notable survivor of ORDER 66, UQUANO STAH, is a main target for the ruthless EMPIRE, and the IMPERIALS will stop at nothing to finally arrest the insurgent.

To make a ransom for STAH'S life, one agent is sent to the MID-RIM planet of ABON, to capture the STAH family…

PROLOGUE

STAH FARM, NEAR VERINO, ABON, 18 BBY (Before Battle of Yavin)

Benak sat in the Nerf-laced chair. He had been thinking back to the days when his son Uquano had been taken. Uquano was only a young boy when the Jedi had asked for him to add his Force skills to their ranks. Benak grudgingly let the monks take in his son, but as time went on he regretted it more and more. Benak thought he would never have another chance to experience what it was like to lovingly father a child, until his wife Narana suddenly had two more children, long after the regular time Rodians could give birth.

While it often puzzled the simplistic Benak, he was glad he could once again have the feeling of what it was like to raise children. The pair of mentioned children, Grelon and Greeata, were as lively and joyful as their older brother had been. The twins exhibited signs of Force-sensitivity, which worried Benak greatly. The Force wasn't something the father opposed, but wasn't ready to show them. If Benak encouraged the activity, they would be snatched up by the Guardians of the Whills or the Jedi again, or some other Force related group. Benak was too attached to his children to let them into harm's way, and ordered them to not use the force. Grelon and Greeata had little idea about what it was they were using, but obediently followed the rules.

As the children had grown up, the Clone Wars had broken out, clones and droids weren't the only ones at the forefront, the Jedi, including Uquano, were there too! Timid by nature, and not willing to bear the sad news of the casualties, Benak moved his family further away from the bustling town of Verino to a quiet homestead where they could continue life devoid of any saddening news from the front. The only thing that gave the two children context of the age they lived in were the periodic hologram messages their elder sibling, Uquano sent on occasion. The twins were always overjoyed to hear some news of their brother's escapades and adventures. Benak had little problem with these messages, as Uquano rarely gave any grim and gritty recollections of the war, merely painting it as an amazing odyssey through the galaxy than the bloody conflict it was to most of the men on the front lines.

Now, the holo-messages from Uquano had all but disappeared, which confused his family back home. They had lived in peace, ignorant of the reason Uquano was silent. The reason behind the silence, the decree of Order 66, a devious scheme plotted by the Chancellor (and secret Sith lord) of the Galactic Republic, Chancellor Palpatine. It was such a small contingency, so tiny, hidden in a forest of military protocol, but so monumental in its impact. The order gave the clones the order that the Jedi were secret traitors of the Republic, and commanded them to eliminate their Jedi leaders. In the span of a day, hundreds of thousands of Jedi were slain by the captains and commanders and grunts they had forged strong bonds with, gaining trust and comradery with. In the time of a few seconds, all the alliances, all the memories, all the humanity of their bonds, died with the masters, knights, and Padawans. Feelings and companionship fell way to heartless scheming and protocol enacted by a cruelly brilliant mastermind.

Uquano had been caught in the massacre, he defended himself from the now murderous clones as he felt his brothers and sisters be picked off one by one in the Jedi temple. The Rodian Jedi was never heard from again, but no clone knows of firing a fatal shot to the Jedi. It was presumed he was dead, but no-one never found a body. While the Jedi were quickly cut down from hundreds of thousands to a few hundred, there were still a few survivors of Order 66 to be caught, it's assumed Uquano died in the attacks.

Benak, terribly ignorant of the events, was sitting around and remembering days gone by, when sound of a ship landing emitted near the house. Unsettled by the late arrival of the visitor, Benak stood to answer the door. The approaching steps of the mysterious caller put Benak further on edge. Finally, with a sigh, the portal was opened, revealing the stiff, gaunt face of an officer of some sort. Without waiting for an introduction from Benak, the man immediately ordered his men to sweep the abode, "Greetings, I am Agent Jollot I've been sent here to find the missing Jedi and traitor Uquano Stah and to arrest the immediate family and friends of said person, you are Stah's father are you not?"

"What? Who are you?"

"An Imperial agent sent by the Emperor."

"An Empire? What about the Republic?"

"Haven't you heard? The Republic and the Jedi are history, the Empire now rules the galaxy."

Shaken badly, realizing that this probably meant Uquano had met a terrible fate, Benak moved to attack out of pure spite. Jollot's men subdued him quickly. Soon, Grelon came down to see what was happening, followed by Narana and Greeata, "What's going on dad?" Benak, being too shocked to come up with any other action simply yelled, "Run!" Narana took Grelon's hand and bolted through the ancient hovel and into the misty Abonian evening.

The three Rodians sprinted through the tranquil jungle, arousing all the sleeping animals as they went. One nasty creature of the slumbering wildlife was angered by the passing people and lashed out at a pursuing stormtrooper.

"Who's chasing us?" A curious Grelon asked.

"I don't know. Something about an empire."

"Empire?"

The young boy was baffled by the turn of events, not sure if this was some game, or a serious pursuit, Grelon ran on intently, waiting for an answer to the chase.

Passing by a steep, rocky cliff, Grelon lost his footing and fell. His mother called out for him, "Grelon where are you?!" Before he could respond, the sound of blasters above him on the path frightened the fallen youth from saying anything.

The distance he had fallen would've taken the fight out of a hardened Tognath, but by a miracle, Grelon had landed still breathing. Hiding in a bush to rest shortly, realizing that this was a dead serious chase from someone who wanted to use him and his family for sinister ends, Grelon's pupiless eyes dripped a few sorrowful tears.

Not wanting to stay in one place too long, the child raised himself up to continue his escape. To his dismay, Grelon spied a deathly white figure of a stormtrooper. He seemed to be scanning the trees for the little Rodian. Hoping to sneak around the man, Grelon plotted a course in his mind through a small trail of bushes and foliage. Sneaking through the underbrush, the trooper took no notice of the passing fugitive. The way was almost clear, when a fragile twig snapped under Grelon's foot. The guard swung around to see what caused the noise. Spying with a trained eye, he found the Rodian getting up to run to safety. Another beast was awoken in the noise of blasters coming from the guard, and it took out yet another threat.

All that night Grelon bolted through the endless jungle, desperate and bitter. He thought he would never get out of the nightmarish place until he finally came upon a speeder road, for the citizens of Abon to make trips to the neighboring cities. Grelon trudged for hours on the road, not caring where he went, as long as he got away from this, empire his mom had said. Pondering his fate from his hopeless position, the child wondered what he should think to influence his choices. He remembered the Force, an 'energy field' as Uquano often called it in his many holo-messages, that 'binds the universe together and lets you do amazing feats.'

Uquano.

The older brother to Grelon, Grelon had never seen him in person, only hearing his voice on a hologram, the closest he'd ever been to this mysterious member of his kin. Grelon wanted so badly to run to his side for protection, but he had no idea where Uquano could be in the galaxy, or if he was even alive. The Empire might've killed him for all the young boy knew. Still, there was always a possibility he was out there, Grelon thought.

Soon, in the waking dawn, a huge metropolis opened before the Rodian's eyes, Verino. The famous spaceport had been the birthplace of Jurijus, and had spawned a myriad Jurijus farms for the curious to visit. This meant Grelon had plenty of ships coming and leaving with spice, smuggled goods, or tourists.

While immediately sneaking on a ship bound off-world would've been the best plan, Grelon was simply too fatigued to carry on. He snuck into an abandoned crate in an alley to rest. Not long after he awoke, just minutes later, the little Grelon woke to the sight of a rough-looking Gran, and a towering Talz staring at him, though they semed to be the same age as Grelon was, even younger perhaps. Taken aback, a startled cry came from Grelon's lips. "Woah! Hey! Hey! Settle down!" The Gran quieted the frightened child, "I'm Vastroni and she's Teko."

The Talz waved in concurrence. "Who're you?" Teko asked.

"Grelon, Grelon Stah."

Still unsure of the two-newcomer's purpose for seeing him, Grelon inquired, "W-what do you want?"

"Heard about your escape, some lady near there and her daughter left here just hours ago. Looks like you can get lucky too and get off this rock with us!"

Grelon wasn't sure whether to trust them or not, but reasoned that there wasn't much he could do at the moment anyway, "You gotta ship?"

Vastroni replied, "Well, it's not mine exactly. It's my father's, we've been going through planets like these, taking in fugitives and refugees who hate the Empire."

Hearing about the opposition to the still mysterious Empire, Grelon was even better convinced that the two could be trusted, and agreed to go with them.

"Great! We better go now, there's a patrol nearby…" Teko whispered.

As she said the words, a group of troopers appeared, holding a hologram of Grelon's likeness. The three children ran through the alley as one stormtrooper took notice of the suspicious bystanders, "Hey, where're you going?" The soldier quickly signaled for the others to follow, and they readied their blasters as they took chase. Vastroni took out a blaster from his belt and shot off a few rounds to cut down their pursuers' numbers. Despite the great number of lasers fired, only one fell to the fire. "Blast it! I'm not much of a marksman. Maybe you're better with it!" Vastroni tossed the blaster over to Grelon's hands. Though he hadn't used a blaster before, the boy was skillful and took out three opponents. After weaving their way through the roads and alleys of Verino, the trio stopped to catch their breath, Vastroni made a short report of their situation, "Looks like we're clear."

Unfortunately, those words weren't true, more troops showed up from the other alleys connecting to the courtyard the three rebels were in. The stormtroopers set their weapons to stun, as the leader warned, "Stop right there!" Thinking quickly, Grelon miraculously did a somersault into a trooper as the others shot at the fugitive. Vastroni and Teko ducked as they watched their new friend take out the enemy with surprising ferocity (fueled by anger at the Imperials for taking away his family). Two soldiers went down shooting each other in a blunder, while Grelon placed a kick into another while trying to dodge a laser. Teko pushed the momentum further by picking up a blaster from one of the fallen troopers and firing on the remaining ones. Vastroni guided them through the alley again "Over here! The ship's not much farther!" After blasting and running their course through Verino, the three finally reached a low-ceilinged hangar with a spaceship idling inside the rust-filled building. Another Gran, most likely Vastroni's father Grelon suspected, appeared firing at the Imperial pursuers. "C'mon! Hurry!" he yelled as the refugees clambered onboard. The ship, theKinyen Racerto be exact, lifted off with wind blowing furiously as a squad of stormtroopers helplessly watched the rebels escape.

At last, Grelon was finally safe.

He looked around at his new allies' vessel. It felt like home, and Grelon desperately wanted that after what had happened. The captain introduced himself, "I'm Ask Aak, captain of theKinyen Racer. Welcome to our band."

Overwhelmed by the shattering events that had so quickly happened, Grelon could barely utter a response. But he accepted his new position in the group of rebels, and was ready for whatever lie ahead. Ask prepared the ship for its rampant journey through hyperspace, as the rebelsexpectantly watched the dotted stars morph into gleaming lines.

CHAPTER 1:

Ei'onia, Kaost, 0 BBY-

Serenity surrounds the underbrush of the fields outside Ei'onia, the grasslands of the alien landscape lie silent, as they have for eons.

But it won't last forever.

A shuttle cuts through the dark blue sky, accompanied by a pair of TIE Fighters and a duo of TIE Bombers. While the scream of the menacing TIEs breaks the relative quietness of the plains, the shuttle flies silently, as if as intent on its goal as it's master.

A mining convoy appears, the long line of caravanning hover-wagons stops for the approaching ships. The ship and its escort come and land just a few Klicks short of the lead wagon. With a hiss of steam, the door of the shuttle opens, a man disembarks with a quartet of stormtroopers for his aid. The leader of the miners steps forward to greet the man. The man from the ship speaks, "Arred."

"Draken!" The miner replies politely, "What brings you this far out from Ei'onia?

"You've probably heard the reports of a mining group supplying the Rebels with fuel and smuggled goods and such."

"Wow, there's nearly a hundred convoys just milling around Ei'onia alone! What do you have on them?"

"Well, they've been bypassing our checks at the spaceports somehow, and taking the goods to the Ring of Kafrene. The troops over there found a lead that traces back to here."

Arred responds in a neighborly, encouraging tone, "Well I wish you the best of luck!"

Draken stands motionless, confusing Arred. For a few seconds the two men stand, Arred hoping his fears aren't realized. The old miner breaks the silence at last, "Your men aren't making their usual check."

Draken nods darkly.

"The bombers."

"Yes."

The officer strides away smugly to his shuttle, "It's a shame Arred, I liked you, I really did. It's terrible our friendship had to end this way."

Arred lifts the pretense of friendliness, and draws a blaster, "Yeah, terrible."

Undeterred, and still walking, Draken gestures with his finger and the accompanying troopers fire at Arred, preventing his devious attack. As Draken reenters the ship he orders the dutiful pilots to give word to the bombers to drop their deadly payload. Even as the shuttle lifts of from the now dangerous ground, the TIEs begin their bombing on the convoy as miners and soldiers flee for cover, they find none. The plan carried out, the ships fly in formation back to Ei'onia.

TWO WEEKS LATER…

YAVIN IV, REBEL BASE-

Footsteps approach hurriedly, Grelon and Knescen wait patiently. A stout Utai walks in quickly, and brings a holo-message from Mon Mothma, "Here's your orders."

"Thanks!" Grelon replied politely.

The two pilots finish their wait and hurry to the _Dathomir_ , the ship for their mission. The friends make small talk as they go, Grelon and Knescen had met a few years back, and were great comerades. They had been great allies in combat, and were a good part of the squadron they flew in. One would get a handle on the situation, and send the other through a frenzied series of blasts, covering for each other. They were inseparable, always hopeful and ready for what lay ahead.

The two continue through the aged temple's corridors out to the landing pad, lying there is a small cruiser for them to use. TheDathomirlies ready to launch. As Grelon and his comrade board, the soldiers onboard rise to greet them.

Knescen announces their mission, "Listen up, I'm only saying this once. Two weeks ago, a friendly mining convoy on Kaost that's been supplying us for a while got bombed by the Imps. If they found the boys in the field, they'll go after the guys in charge next."

A Talz, Teko, speaks up, "But they left no survivors, how can they track the leaders?"

Another rebel inquires curiously, "Kaost? That's in the mid-rim, no one goes there, do we have anything on this cell?"

A deckhand, Fruen, who was also in on the briefing, responds to both, "The lead that led the Imps to find the convoy also has ties to the cell leaders. As for what we know about the group, they're actually part of a slightly bigger collective operating mostly in the Mid-rim and a little in the Colonies, they have considerable resources from what we've gathered, and could the Alliance a big boost in supplies and men, but they haven't heard of us yet."

"Just like the other cells. Well, we just tell 'em we're out there and make them an offer to join us, and we join them with the rest of the Alliance, right?"

Fruen spoke again, "That's the plan, who knows if it'll actually work, considering most plans get compromised."

The blast doors close as the soldiers rest again, and polish up their cobbled-together blasters. Some of the crew head up to the bridge for departure procedure. Fruen heated up the idling engines as another pilot spoke on a microphone: "This is the _Dathomir_ , pulling away, need allowance to leave, over." A voice coming from the interior of the base responded, giving them permission to embark. Soon the rebels were out of Yavin airspace and launched into the annals of hyperspace.

Grelon handed the holo-message to a crew member who slip the disc into a battered but functional holo-projector. The ghostly blue head of Mon Mothma appears to give instructions to the ready troops. She says that Kaost is the best place to search first, since it's reportedly where the secretive group is headed from. The mission should be simple, they arrive on Kaost, find a member of the collective, get to a leader or influential part of the splinter group, convince them to join up with the Rebel Alliance, and return to report their success or failure. The defenses on and above the planet are apparently scarce, with the biggest threat being the TIEs that patrol the skies, and are routinely sent into orbit to guard and protect the planet from pirates or rebels.

On route to Kaost, Teko entered the bridge, gave a greeting to Grelon, and walked over to the stiff, calculating figure of Captain Fruen, "Captain, if the cell is so critical, why haven't we made contact with them yet?"

"Not sure, the suppliers on Kaost could be just now becoming aware of us, they might not be allowed to join us for some reason and this end of the group's breaking silence against the head's will, who knows?"

Teko put a clawed finger to her chin and pondered for a while, sitting in a free chair as the ship continued on its way. She turns to Grelon, "You think they're part of some splinter we already know about?"

"Who knows? It's probably a new group we haven't heard of much yet."

"Eh, I'd bet Saw Gerrera would be in with them."

"He's hiding out on Jedha! Why would he be over where we're going? Poor guy could barely survive off the moon for a minute."

The friends had to leave the conversation after Fruen asked them to quiet down. Teko goes back to the lower level, leaving Grelon alone to think on the mission alone.

A few hours later, the rebels emerge from hyperspace, Grelon and the crew scan the planet for signs of any patrols or big threats. They focus mainly on the atmosphere of Kaost, looking for any approaching TIEs.

That's when the star destroyer came into view.

The crew is alarmed by the appearance, the destroyer wasn't supposed to be there according to the mission feed. Before Fruen or his men could respond, a voice came up on the intercom, "Cruiser detected, this is the crew of the _Grievous_ , identify yourself within a minute or we will fire on you."

Fruen, for all his involvement in collecting information on the mission feed, seemed just as surprised, though the reaction seemed strangely stiff to Grelon. Without looking for advice from the others, Fruen quickly snatched the mic from a co-pilot and blurted out a hasty reply, "Uh… Yes! This is the, uh, _Nuna's Feast,_ asking for permission to proceed, over."

The voice came back to the rebels' ears "We're checking the records for confirmation…"

The tension built, Grelon put his hands on the escape pod primer, ready to push at any moment. Everyone tensed up, waiting worriedly for an answer…

The Destroyer's guns aimed at the Rebel spacecraft.

Not waiting for an answer, Grelon pounded the button and ran off to an elevator and shouted back, "Get to the pods!" Knescen, the other pilot on the bridge barked, "Pilots! With me now!"

The Rodian ran out of the elevator as the first blast rocked some onboard crates loose, following a quartet of other pilots. He and the others clambered in their motley assortment of weathered X and Y wings. The five took off to face the enemy forces, hoping they could buy the crew time to evacuate.

The Bridge of the _Grievous-_

An officer calls for the captain, "Sir! Five X-wings just launched from the cruiser!"

The leader of the Destroyer responded swiftly, "Launch the TIEs, keep the Turbolasers trained on their capital ship!"

Another report comes in, saying that the engines of the Rebel cruiser had been disabled. The Captain gives a command purely for the entertainment of him and his men, "Have some men board the ship, I've always wanted to see more of this kind of ship-to-ship combat."

Black Squadron, in orbit over Kaost-

The focus in an attack from a destroyer was usually the tractor beams and turbolasers, but the TIEs were too close on the pilots' tails to give them enough time to focus on the cruiser.

Grelon tried to make sure all were accounted for so they could coordinate their attacks instead of random maneuvers everywhere confusing them. He and Vastroni got a voice feed from each other, Black four, leader and five came on too, though four was quickly dispatched after his report.

The dogfighting continued for what seemed to the pilots forever, but by the time anyone checked, half the TIEs were gone. Five more TIEs came to back up the remaining fighters, much to Black Squadron's chagrin. It was obvious the squad couldn't win, Knescen (Black Leader) announced a final order to the rest before he went down, "Get to the surface! We can't beat them, get a signal to the Alliance for help!" A laser blew an engine as he ended his words, he said his last words, "Complete the mission!" Then a second blow turned him and his vessel into a fiery wreck.

Vastroni shouted "You heard him! Dive!" All the ships followed in agreement to Kaost's surface. Black five was shot and was destroyed in a flash of explosions, and the remaining two were crippled when their Astromechs were blown. Black three's top left wing was clipped off at the beginning of the wing, sending the pilot into a spiral towards the all-too-firm ground. Grelon kept falling and falling, doing anything he could to soften the crash, millions of thoughts pulsed through his mind, the crashing of fears in his mind were as terrible as the physical one coming. Though expecting the collision to hurt, the landing was so sudden, Grelon blacked out on contact, he hoped it wasn't the end of the so far failed mission. But he wouldn't be able to find out yet as his strained eyes closed…

The _Dathomir_ , above Kaost-

Cerris felt a hard rumble, that gave the Quarren all he needed to know. He quickly gathered his supplies and made for the escape pods. Another blast knocked him off his feet, a short grumble and another swift snatch later and he was on his way again. He was easily riled up, and the continued hits on the ship made him wobble violently in places, adding to his anger. A Gand ran up behind him and went with Cerris to the pods, "Mind if I follow you?"

Cerris talked back sarcastically "To our doom? Be my guest!" The two ran to an intersection in the interior corridors, when Fruen, the captain, scurried safety. "What're you doing?" The two other Rebels asked. "You think I'm going down with the ship?"

"Well you're the captain." Cerris quipped.

"Knescen is dead, if we're going to regroup on the surface, we also need leadership! I'm that leadership!"

Before Cerris could argue further, a giant blast blew open a fried section of hull nearby! The Gand, Strenis, pushed his warring allies into the pod without a thought, and jumped in himself. His insectoid hand pounded the launch button, sending them careening to Kaost's surface. "With any luck, most of us will land close by each other." Fruen predicted. As he finished, a pod nearby burst into flames from the Imperial guns. Cerris grumbled loudly, "I'm more concerned with landing anywhere."

"The Force will decide." Strenis calmly stated. The other two were stunned by their unusually serene passenger, but soon put their minds back to maneuvering away from the Star Destroyer's lasers.

Escape Pod bay, The _Dathomir-_

Sauloch burst into the room, yelling, "The hull's been breached! Close off the rupture, or we'll get sucked out!"

Someone pulled a switch, closing the nearby hole in the ship, keeping the danger of the ship's destruction away, if only for a while. From an adjoining hallway, Spacetroopers stomp through the failing ship, shooting away all the desperate rebels. Sauloch grabs a blaster, and shouts "Get in!" to the others. She took out three troopers before the rest pushed into the room, blasting one more, Sauloch made a final resort, she knew she couldn't keep all the Imperials out. The switch is pulled again, sending the Spacetroopers flying out to the void. The Mon Calamari quickly closed the seal once more. Slumping to the floor, she regains her breath after the skirmish.

Soon after resting for a minute, Sauloch heard the approaching steps of the enemy troops. She played dead, hoping it would buy her some more time before the troopers came again. She grabbed the blaster and snuck out into the dying ship's halls.

Sauloch continued through the ship, looking for an escape of any kind, save death or imprisonment. She found a group of rebels, trying to take a smaller junker in the spacious hangar. They sprint for the safety of the ship, but a squad of Spacetroopers follows behind them. The onlooking Sauloch is powerless to stop the goons from behind a pile of crates and hangar equipment, but she remembers"My blaster!"in her mind. A finned hand rattles off some shots from the trigger, striking down two adversaries. The other troops take little notice as they chase the bigger prize. One running rebel falls to the lasers of a pursuing trooper, while the others scramble for the junker. The Imperials take their attention to the exposed engine of the tiny escape ship. One trooper takes out his rocket launcher and fires, the shot hits dead center of the uncovered inner workings. The rebels inside are gone in a furious explosion!

Sauloch wasn't shocked that their escape didn't work, but was saddened she couldn't have helped them.

After the incident, a Spacetrooper reported to what appeared to be the squad leader, "There's no survivors. But there's one more holdout near the bridge, we should-." A rough rumble from the weakeningDathomirtoppled some boxes and set the troopers, and Sauloch off their feet. The Mon Cal let out a pained grunt once the shaking subsided, giving away her cover. An imperial heard the noise she had made, "Hey boys, there's another one still in here, let's fish her out." Sauloch tensed up, she knew they were coming for her. She gripped the blaster again, repeating a desperately hopeful sentence in her brain to ease the adrenaline that was pounding like a herd of Shaaks over a long dead carcass.

Finally, Sauloch heaved the gun over out to where the troopers were presumably approaching from. She expected a hail of blaster fire to come, but nothing came! Losing the tension for a blissful instant, Sauloch sees the empty space where the enemy should have been.

The butt of a rifle strikes hard against the rebel's tired head.

"Got 'er!" the assailant crows over Sauloch. Another trooper looks closer at their prize, "Wait a second, she's got a high ranking here, see the symbol on her coat? Must be close to the captain."

"So, she could lead us to him!" the first soldier replies cheerily.

"Inform Captain Jerrul we have a prisoner."

Chapter 2:

Grentiij Cliffs, Kaost

Spinning, spinning, spinning, spinning…

Grelon awakens with the landscape in a dizzying whirl, the crash had hit quite hard. "Augh, my head..." he says as he hauls himself and his supplies that survived the fall. The dazed pilot scans his surroundings, a beautiful but empty set of plains, cliffs and hills stretches on in all directions. All seems hopeless, until a distant sight lifts Grelon's spirits.

A town lays not far from his landing site. Soon, with his supplies and clothes in a tattered old backpack, Grelon sets off, "May the Force be with me!"

He continues for hour after long hour, until he realizes, with all the relative flatness between him and the heavenly settlement, the town must be quite some ways away. Not wanting to give up his journey for the shelter ahead, the Rodian continues, trying to stay optimistic.

After another hour, the sweltering heat and humidity had worn down the tired pilot. Grelon continues, though the stifling warmth keeps dragging down his hope. Suddenly, a speeder approaches our suffering hero. The vehicle stops just short of Grelon's feet, though he would've been shocked at the close call, he's too tired to care. The lone driver calls for him to get in, "You from the ship that's getting butchered up there?" Grelon pulls out his pistol, not knowing if this is a trick from the Empire, or a bounty hunter set on catching him, "How do I know I can trust you?"

The hooded alien responds, "You don't really have any other choice other than bake out here."

Grelon relents, admitting to the driver's point, and having no better alternative, hops in the speeder, and speeds to Ei'onia.

Escape pod crash site, Kaost

A pod lays in a small crater out in the plains of Kaost, Strenis' foot kicks the sturdy door off. He and the other two survivors climb out into the humid climate. "Well, what do you think we do now, captain?" Cerris asks, half sarcastic, half sincerely. "I see smoke past that hill over there, it'd be best to see if it's a settlement, or another pod. We'll have strength in numbers." Strenis agreed, "We should see if there was anyone else as fortunate as us that made it here." Soon, the three rebels had gathered rations and tools from their pod and patiently trekked to the other crash site...

Hi! Thanks for reading the first part of my story (unless you read to the bottom without seeing the whole story of course)! Please give me reviews (clean language please) and suggestions for this story or other possible stories I could make, the subjects I'd jump into more would be more Wars, Pokemon, and The Amazing World of Gumball (TAWOG for short). Thanks!


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